Expat Delight: Hot Italian Decadence

Lots of bare bottoms everywhere. Sometimes the back is more interesting than the front

There is lots of wonderful decadence in Italy, from bare-bottom statues to scrumptious food. If you were hoping for a tale about hot decadence of a carnal variety, you’ll be disappointed, but if you are a foodie and a chocoholic, good. This one is for you.

Although I’ve been to Italy half a dozen times or so, I’d never been there during the winter months and so never came across the cioccolata calda, hot chocolate, which is pure, well, decadence. It is not related to what in the US or my native Holland you might call “hot chocolate,” so read on:

One cool February afternoon in Rome (a couple of years ago) I spooned empty this mug while sitting on a little terrace warmed by gas heaters in Via della Carozze near the Spanish Steps. I thought I had died and gone to chocolate heaven. (Fortunately dinner wasn’t until 9, Italian style.)

I said spooned, because it is too thick to drink. It was fabulous, it was yummie delicious, it was out of this world.

And yes, I have a recipe! It works beautifully and tastes just the way I had it in Rome. I use 72 – 75% dark chocolate. The better the chocolate the better the hot chocolate will be (imagine that), so don’t try this with some cheap stuff.

As I write this, I am not in Italy, I am in the South of France. It is January. Hard as this may be to believe, it is cold and the wind is howling around the house. Not any kind of wind, mind you, but a really, really nasty wind that goes by the name of Tramontane, and it offers up air straight from the North Pole and if you don’t believe it, click on the link and all will be revealed to you. Clearly, on a day like this, what would be better than a cup of Italian cioccolata calda? So here’s the recipe:

I hail from the Netherlands and grew up eating lots of Gouda cheese, riding a bike to school, and not wearing wooden shoes. Having adventurous Dutch genes, I married an American Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya, East Africa, in an odd if humorous 10-minute ceremony that fortunately has stuck so far.
My man is a development economist and I follow him around the world and watch him toil running projects that assist business and agricultural enterprises in developing countries. I have cooked, shopped, mothered, traveled and written stories in Africa, Asia, Europe, the US and the Middle East.
I'm an expat writer not living in paradise (like Peter Mayle or Frances Mayes). I do not drink wine from my own grapes or tend my own olive groves. I have, however, visited my butcher's bedroom in Palestine, eaten fertility sausage in Kenya, and almost landed in prison in Uganda.

Chocolate is my main form of decadence these days and I love it! I was thoroughly impressed on my visit to Italy last winter because the cafes had about 10 different types of hot chocolate available. Now that is impressive. But I didn’t know how they made them so thick until now so thanks for the recipe.

I thought you’d stopped blogging, but apparently the problem was that my feed reader decided not to show you! So glad you are still around! Now I’m off to (hopefully) fix my feed reader and catch up on your adventures.
edj

What You’ll Find Here

Occasional tales of my (mis) adventures living the expat life in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and other fun places around the world. My aim? To entertain you.

My name is Miss Footloose (aka Karen van der Zee)

I'm an expatriate writer with lots of stories to tell. I've seen my Palestinian butcher's bedroom, dined on fertility sausage in Kenya, and almost landed in jail in Uganda. I now live in a village in France but I'm not remodeling an old farmhouse and don't drink wine from my own grapes.